16 hours away, the country risked going over what he called a fiscal cliff. since the president's re-election, he and republicans have traded offers and counteroffers, finding little common ground on tax increases and cuts from entitlements. president obama and speaker boehner met one on one. nothing happened. the speaker offered plan "b," never got enough support within his own party. here we are all over again. do we have tom coburn? joining us now from capitol hill, republican senator from oklahoma, senator tom coburn. senator, thanks for being with us. >> you're welcome. >> so, why, first of all, does this deadline tonight matter? and i heard you make comments yesterday out on the streets of washington to a reporter that you think we're going to go over the cliff? >> i do. >> okay. >> i do. let me take issue with a couple of things you said. >> okay. >> number one is we haven't cut the first penny yet from the federal government, and it's important people know that. what happened in that agreement is $1 trillion in increased expenditures didn't happen. >>